I was wondering if it is a bad thing to mix brands of batteries. I have 2 optimas in my xstar and one of them is bad. Would it be a bad thing to put another brand like Interstate in as long as it is similar in cca and marine and all that?

bturner2

03-08-2012, 06:47 PM

You should match batteries if they're not isolated but most people will tell you to match them even if they are isolated. Are you sure your Optima is bad? Many times a Optima will drain below a level some chargers are able to recover the battery state from.

Check this link before tossing the battery or ship it to me, I'll fix it and sell it back to you.

I think they only need to be matched if they are being run in parallel (wired together or with the switch on all). To match them, they need to be the same age and type. If your batteries are separated by a perko switch, it shouldn't matter if they match or not.

CantRepeat

03-09-2012, 06:39 AM

Try this deep discharge tech tip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoaL3DWWEg

Kyle

03-27-2012, 03:34 PM

You should match batteries if they're not isolated but most people will tell you to match them even if they are isolated. Are you sure your Optima is bad? Many times a Optima will drain below a level some chargers are able to recover the battery state from.

Check this link before tossing the battery or ship it to me, I'll fix it and sell it back to you.

Will the above site and using method #2 work if the battery shows a bad cell. I took my yellow top to Auto Zone and it failed testing so I brought it home to wait until it was time to start using my boat so that the warranty would be inforce longer.

CantRepeat

03-27-2012, 03:43 PM

Will the above site and using method #2 work if the battery shows a bad cell. I took my yellow top to Auto Zone and it failed testing so I brought it home to wait until it was time to start using my boat so that the warranty would be inforce longer.

The Optima warranty is from the original date of purchase and does not reset with a warranty replacement. However, if you have an unknowledgeable person working the counter and they let you exchange the battery pass the warranty date then more power to you.

None of the tech tips will fix a dead cell. I went through two yellow tops in my suburban before I figured out Optima batteries do not like high parasitic draws. It seems that anything above say 40 to 50 miliamps (mA) will kill an Optima pretty fast and if you have something near 80 mA you can bet the battery will be toast in about 6 months.

With parasitic draw of about 18 mA my blue tops work great and I've never had a dead cell with them yet.

And that link I posted is the Optima video for recovery.

Kyle

03-27-2012, 03:43 PM

Also let me add that I dropped off my battery and had Auto Zone charge the battery for 45 minutes and then test it. I do not know if they knew anything about AGM batteries of if the dude had much going on in between his ears. He did not seem to be so smart. I never could get a clear answer on how bad the voltage was or not. I do know that my charger charges it for 10 minutes and says it is fully charged and it will work to start the boat a few times and then its dead. I also think I am dealing with surface charge. If you guys that know more about batteries than I do think this will work then I will give it a try. I just dont like fooling with fire.......and by that I mean having the SOB not work in the middle of the lake and not starting my boat then leaving me stranded.

Kyle

03-27-2012, 03:51 PM

Tim, the only reason that I have waited was to use the old optima as a core and wanted my new warranty to start when lake season started. I did not see the point of having a premature warranty for a battery that was just going to be sitting.

I think the Optima that I am having issues with is about 3-4 years old. It is not going to be under any kind of replacement warranty or any discount for purchasing a new one.

I have charged the batteries every time I used my boat. I always made sure that they were fully charged on every outing. I have not had any bad thing to say about Optima's product, and I use the battery to play my stereo for 4-6 hours every satruday and I have had no problems until about November when the battery quit working properly and was removed from the boat.

If it can be saved then I do have a house battery that will start the boat in a pinch but I really want a good stereo battery that will be fine. If doing the jumper cable thing will work then great. If it is just time to throw another $225 for a new one then that is what will have to be done.

CantRepeat

03-27-2012, 03:59 PM

So he charged for 45 minutes and I would assume it was 12.84 to 13.25 and then he did a load test on it.

The trouble with batteries with bad cells is they can show a full charge but the minute you put a load on them they drop to 9.18 ish. There is nothing you can do to fix this, even in an Optima.

I really do not know the difference in a yellow deep cycle and a blue deep cycle. I do know the lighter grey casing on a blue is a cracking and the darker grey is a deep cycle. The difference between the two might just be the color top.

I would check the parasitic draw on your boat just to make sure you are not in the higher numbers. If you are then a excide lead acid battery might be better for you in the long run.

Kyle, here is a video I did about my parasitic draw for an Optima rep that was confused as to why my Suburban was chewing up Optimas. I talk to a lot of people and it comes down to the draw rate. I would suggest you check yours and see how high it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmNChqTF7Zg

CantRepeat

03-27-2012, 04:01 PM

Tim, the only reason that I have waited was to use the old optima as a core and wanted my new warranty to start when lake season started. I did not see the point of having a premature warranty for a battery that was just going to be sitting.

I think the Optima that I am having issues with is about 3-4 years old. It is not going to be under any kind of replacement warranty or any discount for purchasing a new one.

I have charged the batteries every time I used my boat. I always made sure that they were fully charged on every outing. I have not had any bad thing to say about Optima's product, and I use the battery to play my stereo for 4-6 hours every satruday and I have had no problems until about November when the battery quit working properly and was removed from the boat.

If it can be saved then I do have a house battery that will start the boat in a pinch but I really want a good stereo battery that will be fine. If doing the jumper cable thing will work then great. If it is just time to throw another $225 for a new one then that is what will have to be done.

I understand that now. Sorry, I thought it was still under warranty.

I've heard but can not verify one way to break up sulfation was to drop the Optima on it's base from 3 or 4 feet. I know, I know, it sounds crazy. But I have read more then a dozen reports where people broke up t he sulfation and recovered the battery after a drop and tech tip 3 charging.

peason

03-27-2012, 04:11 PM

I have a blue top that went bad at the end of last season. Thanks for posting this, AI am going to try and raise it from the dead. My charger would not charge it at all, so I may try the inline charging method.

Kyle

03-27-2012, 04:21 PM

I just got off of the phone with my friend who sold me the Optimas for my boat. He sells Stinger batteries now and does not carry Optimas.

Anyway he said that the Blue top and Yellow tops are the same batteries......The only difference is the Blue tops have the marine wing nut connections along with top posts and the Yellow tops have top posts and side posts.

If I drop the battery will it break the inner cores that are in the battery????

Heck I cant go wrong.... I guess I will DROP the battery a few times and then hook up my blue top to it that is my house battery and charge the blue top for 2 hours. Maybe I can give the old yellow battery a defibulation shock back to life :)

Kyle

03-27-2012, 04:33 PM

So he charged for 45 minutes and I would assume it was 12.84 to 13.25 and then he did a load test on it.

The trouble with batteries with bad cells is they can show a full charge but the minute you put a load on them they drop to 9.18 ish. There is nothing you can do to fix this, even in an Optima.

I really do not know the difference in a yellow deep cycle and a blue deep cycle. I do know the lighter grey casing on a blue is a cracking and the darker grey is a deep cycle. The difference between the two might just be the color top.

I would check the parasitic draw on your boat just to make sure you are not in the higher numbers. If you are then a excide lead acid battery might be better for you in the long run.

Kyle, here is a video I did about my parasitic draw for an Optima rep that was confused as to why my Suburban was chewing up Optimas. I talk to a lot of people and it comes down to the draw rate. I would suggest you check yours and see how high it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmNChqTF7Zg

I watched your video and do not think that I am having a draw problem like your suburban had. I have a perko swithch that goes to the off position when the boat gets put into storage.

Therefore I should have no draw at all because nothing is hooked up unless the perko swithch is bad. I just find it weird that One of the 3 batteries is bad not all three.

CantRepeat

03-27-2012, 05:33 PM

I hear you on that.

If nothing else, turn your perko off and use you multi meter between your negative lead and the negative terminal and check the draw when off.

The other thing the Optima rep was on my nutz about was the battery was not fully charged when I would park my truck. After many, many times checking it was not the case. You say you are charging at the house after a long day of stereo pull. I would check the condition of each battery after you get off the lake for current state of charge.

In my reading and testing it seems that Optimas get cranky when they get below 12 volts. The more times this happens the higher rate of failure. I know a lot of the Optima tech vids talk about 10 volts and what not.

The other thing is that they do not want you to 2 amp charge Optimas. The tech vids call for 10 amp or higher chargers and only for 2 hours. I know a lot of folks have the 2 amp or 6 amp chargers. I don't know if this is an AGM deal or if it on the up an up, but it only seems Optima is asking for this type of charging.

I'm no expert but I have needed to deal with a lot of Optimas over the last couple of years.